


Son of the Sea

by Suus_Arido



Series: Ocean man, take me by the hand [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Interspecies Romance, Ireland, M/M, Selkies, Summer Vacation, merfolk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:24:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22494277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Suus_Arido/pseuds/Suus_Arido
Summary: Dean was five when he first visited Killroísín. Now at age twelve, he has found that some things about the town never quite change. The smell of fish, the strange drunkard outside of the local pub and of course the merboy Castiel...
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: Ocean man, take me by the hand [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1344373
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	Son of the Sea

Deep in the waters, past the fish, past the plants and past the whales, there was a strange movement in the water. The strange creature moved quickly and elegantly. A human would’ve easily mistaken the creature for a dolphin. But when you looked closer it seemed to be a young diver.

This boy was neither. His human torso almost seamlessly went over into a long and strong tail. The boy was grinning, moving with excitement. Behind him, a small white seal followed. ‘Wait for me, you’re going too fast!’ The seal spoke. Or at least this is what the boy heard. For a human would’ve simply heard the animal squeak.

‘Castiel!’ The seal spoke again, her voice clear as a bell despite the deep waters they were in. Finally, the merboy named Castiel stopped moving, on his skin had appeared a glowing pattern. He stared at it with excitement. ‘Dean must be close, we need to hurry.’ He too spoke a strange language and as he spoke, he moved to make symbols with his hands. The seal watched closely.

‘If your father ever hears about this we’ll be both be blasted into the nearest fishing net.’ The seal spoke nervously, swimming in small circles. ‘Or even worse! Getting fed to the sharks.’ She continued. Castiel shrugged, he’d heard that threat too many times to be scared anymore.

‘He’ll never know Eileen. I like speaking with Dean, although I might not understand him. I just wonder why I keep glowing whenever he is near.’ The merboy stared at his hands, he was covered from head to fin in glowing symbols. He knew it was a sign of something, but he wasn’t quite sure what it meant.

The white seal finally seemed to give in. ‘Fine, but you need to come up with better excuses. Hester knows we are up to something and if she tells Raphael or Michael…’ Cas pulled a face, Hester never liked it when he left the palace. She always acted like she was better than everyone else.

The glowing had started to fade, but Cas knew Dean would return to their beach today. The human boy had changed a lot in a short period of time. He had grown taller, his proportions changed drastically every time Cas saw him. It seemed that were merfolk aged slowly, humans aged very fast.

Dean always brought him weird substances and objects from the human world. In return, Cas had not much to offer. He sighed, ‘Hester won’t tell. I’ll make sure of it. You want to head back before we get in trouble?’

If they stayed away for much longer the guards would come looking. Eileen gave him a knowing look, ‘why are you so fascinated with the human?’ Cas managed to keep his expression under control as he shrugged and dismissed the question.

‘Give it a few years and you’ll be able to go on land whenever it pleases you.’ He grumbled. Eileen let out a shrill laugh, ‘I’m deaf but not dumb. Why would I ever want to leave home?’

Cas started to head back, swimming a bit harder than he probably should. ‘Because that’s what you selkies do. You get to explore a whole new world! You get to have legs and run and eat strange foods and soon you’ll forget about us.’

Eileen seemed taken back, ‘don’t say that. I’m not going to grow up and be like one of those dumb girls that loses their coats and get stuck on land.’ Castiel wasn’t convinced. Once again the selkie let out a squeak: ‘It’s true! Boys are stupid! I’d rather spend the rest of my life here than chase after some human.’

Eileen grinned, ‘maybe we should switch places. I’ll be a mermaid and you’ll be a selkie. Then you can visit your beloved Dean as much as you want.’ Cas came to a halt, hiding his embarrassment behind his hands. Eileen was moving quickly now. Putting on a lower-pitched voice.

‘Oh Dean’s so nice and sweet. And he brings me weird human things and his eyes are soooo green. Oh, Dean!’ Cas laughed, ‘sssst be quiet! I don’t talk like that!’ But a grin formed on his face. ‘It’s not like that! You’ve had too much seaweed.’

Eileen suddenly stopped her laughing and gave him a very serious look. ‘Can you promise we’ll stick together?’ Cas gave a serious nod and answered: ‘No boys or girls that can keep us apart ok? Just the two of us.’ It was the type of promise many made but seldom anyone kept.

Sam was a bouncing ball of excitement. Annoying? Yes. Typical? Well, knowing that the eight-year-old was finally going to visit Dublin this year, Dean should’ve expected this might happen. ‘Can you sit still for a minute?’ He whispered. He knew his little brother got motion sick and at every sharp turn he feared that the puking would start.

Sam paid him no mind, he was completely absorbed in the museum flyer their mom had given him. ‘Sammy you’re gonna get sick if you keep your head down like that.’ Dean warned him again. His dad took the next turn and let out a very deep sigh. The bags under his eyes showed his lack of sleep but when he spoke, he sounded cheerful for once.

‘Let him be boy. He’ll figure it out and if not,’ he handed Dean a plastic bag, ‘you know what to do.’ Dean nodded his sour mood not getting any better. He’d wanted to stay in Lawrence this summer, and spend some more time getting to know Jenny. She always smiled at him during class and he was pretty sure that she might have a thing for him.

But no, instead he was forced to visit his grandparents. As he watched the coastline a flicker of excitement finally formed. At least there was somebody here he was excited to see again. Last year he and Cas had had a blast when Dean had shown Cas how to whistle.

Maybe this year Mary would finally start to teach him how to dive. He already had the suit to keep him warm since his mom was getting sick and tired of seeing Dean walking around in his wet clothes. It wasn’t even that he liked swimming so much, he just liked spending time with Cas. The farthest he’d managed to drag Cas on land was a few yards. Dean had complained a lot about how heavy his friend was, and Cas had simply laughed.

So if Cas couldn’t come to him, he wanted to go to him instead. Not that he was having a high success rate so far. ‘Mom are we going to dive this year?’ Dean asked, batting his eyes innocently at his mother. She gave him a warning look through the mirror and he quickly gave her his sweetest smile.

‘You know the answer already, I’m not going to repeat myself forever you know?’ She sighed, and Dean knew that if he just kept nagging maybe she would allow it next year. ‘I promise I’m ready. I’m getting bored by snorkelling.’ Dean noticed his father’s grip on the steering wheel becoming tight and quickly added: ‘but I understand.’

Sam finally started to pull a face. ‘I’m not feeling well.’ The boy admitted. Dean quickly handed him the bag. It was getting late and they should be nearing the Seadog Shelter soon. Their grandparents would be ecstatic to see them again.

Dean looked out of the window, wondering what Cas was doing right now. He wished he could share his stories with his family, but they believed he was getting too old to have an imaginary friend. So he wisely kept his mouth shut. But Sam was getting older, and he never left Dean’s side. It was annoying, last year he hardly got to see Cas because he was constantly babysitting his little brother.

Finally, they arrived and his grandmother almost ripped him out of the car to hug him. ‘Ah, my sweetie!’ She said, giving him several kisses. He managed to smile, ‘hi grandma.’ She gave him a happy once over. ‘My dear you’re getting so tall! What are you feeding them, Mary?’ Their mother stepped out of the car and managed a smile, but her eyes looked tired.

John was talking to his father, but once grandma called out for Henry to have a look at Sam’s hair he was politely excusing himself to greet his grandkids. Dean liked his grandfather well enough, he was always sitting in his green chair reading some obscure book with no pictures. Dean guessed that his grandma just sorta dealt with it. Not really caring nor trying to stop the old man’s obsession with collectables.

It was probably why the Seadog Shelter was filled up with bookcases. Henry took a good look at his grandkids and decided that Sam would soon be old enough to go fishing with him. Something Dean wasn’t particularly excited for. The whole town already smelled like rotten fish, he wasn’t sure why they would want to contribute to the stench.

The stormy sky finally started to take charge and the rain started pouring slowly and then suddenly, very quickly. They all quickly made their way inside the B&B and Mary took a quick hold of their belongings hauling them from the car.

John gave the place a sober look over before eyeing the door to the library. Ever since his dad had found his new strange hobby of the occult, he never left that library. Dean didn’t want to think too much of it. His mom already got angry enough when he mentioned it. Instead, he dragged his stuff upstairs to his assigned room, walking right through the door that said: _private area _and heading for his own space.

He wished he could show Cas his room in Lawrence sometimes. That would be cool. He could show him the posters and the action figures he’d collected over the years. Not that that could ever happen. As he started to unpack his eyes fell on a small book at the edge of the desk. He wasn’t surprised by it, his grandpa scattered his books everywhere.

The hard to read title was partly faded but was talking about something of letters. ‘Nel of Letters?’ He questioned out loud. The door opened with a bang, Henry walked in quickly with a tight smile on his face. ‘Ah I was looking for that, thank you!’ He grabbed for the book and almost violently ripped it from Dean’s hands.

The boy was shocked. ‘Sorry I didn’t know-’ he started to apologize. Henry was already walking out of the room closing it with a loud bang. Dean felt stupefied. He knew his grandpa was a bit weird and protective of his books but he’d never seen him react like that before. He could hear voices arguing downstairs. He followed the sounds and sneaked out of the room and towards the hallway.

‘I don’t care, you stay away, you hear me boy?’ Henry was accusingly pointing at his son John. Dean’s father seemed irritated. ‘The boy has the right to know!’ He hissed back, but Henry slapped his hand on the wall.

‘I’ve heard enough of it. We’re done here.’ He still held onto the book tightly as he brusquely walked away. Dean quietly returned to his room, unsure what had just happened.

Dean felt nervous, he’d been to their beach four times now at their regular time. But Cas was nowhere to be found. He sat on his blanket, waiting patiently once again. What if Cas had forgotten about him? What is Cas didn’t want to see him anymore?

It had taken forever to get rid of Sammy. But maybe that had been for nothing after all. He was ready to leave, skipping a stone across the surface of the water when he heard someone say his name: ‘Dean?’ He turned around quickly only to find Cas staring at him from the water. Dean’s smile returned instantly as he quickly ran to his friend.

‘Cas!’ He replied with excitement. Cas was in shallow waters waving at him with an excited look. Dean knelt in the water and without thinking hugged his friend.

Cas’ body froze up, probably surprised by the sudden action. Dean quickly let go and spoke deliberately: ‘Hug.’ He explained. Cas slowly repeated the word and Dean nodded. Dean was taken back as he took a good look at this childhood friend. Cas must be a late bloomer for he’d not changed a bit in the years Dean had known him.

He still looked young and small. He wasn’t sure if he should mention it. Cas was however already reaching out for Dean’s feet. He always had a weird fascination with them. Dean wiggled them and Cas giggled, now poking his finger at Dean’s knee.

Finally, he stopped his poking and pointed at the beach, he started to push himself forward and Dean grinned. He took hold of Cas’ tail and dragged him further inland. Cas was shouting and laughing now. Probably demanding Dean stop but he kept going until he reached their hang spot.

He let go and wiped his hands on his pants. ‘I’ve got something for you.’ Cas frowned as Dean opened the bag he’d bring along. Slowly he revealed two pieces of apple pie. Despite speaking different languages Dean always felt like he could understand the merboy perfectly well. Right now he had that look of excitement as he carefully sniffed the food. Dean opened his bag to get out two paper plates and two forks.

Cas quietly stared at the fork for a moment. There was obviously something on his mind but instead, he stayed quiet as Dean showed him how to eat. Once Cas got the hang of the motion he carefully started to chew on a small piece. Dean waited in tense silence for the verdict.

Cas didn’t always react well on land food, but when his eyebrows started to raise Dean knew he’d done well this time. In comfortable silence they ate their pie. After some time passed Castiel’s tail flopped around a bit. And Dean had to admit it looked pretty.

It shimmered in the light in lots of colours and were just as blue as his eyes. Dean took out his bottle of water and poured some on the tail, it finally stopped moving now. Cas was giving him one of those small smiles he had. Barely registrable if you didn’t know him well.

‘Dean?’ A voice spoke up from close by. Dean immediately took out the other blanket and threw it over Castiel’s tail. ‘Dean I’m bored. Can we go home now!’ Shit Sammy. Dean quickly stood up when he saw the panic in Castiel’ eyes.

He quickly ran out from behind the rocks to meet his little brother. ‘Sammy I told you to go play in town with the other kids.’ His voice was laced with anger, Castiel’s fearful expression still clear on his face. Sam frowned, obviously irritated.

‘They only want to do boring things.’ Sam complained quietly. Dean groaned, the time had flown by too fast they needed to head home for dinner soon. ‘Alright fine. I’m going to pack up some stuff. You wait for me at the top of the stairs you hear me?’ It was the only way to hide Cas away from his brother.

So when Sam ran off Dean quickly ran back to the rocks only to see Cas look even more distressed than before. Dean made a quick soothing motion but Cas still stared at him with a watchful gaze.

‘Hey man, I’m sorry. Sammy and I need to head home. I’m gonna bring you back to the water ok?’ Dean tried picking his friend up bridal style, but the tail of the merboy was too heavy for his weak arms. Castiel’s eyes softened once again and he nodded to his own tail. Indicting Dean should drag him instead.

Once Cas was back in the water and Dean was at the top of the stairs Sam piped up. ‘Why are you always going here anyway?’ Dean looked away, still filled with disappointment. ‘None of your business Sammy.’

Sam was too curious for his own good. So it was only a matter of time before he didn’t take Dean’s excuses serious anymore. Could he risk Sam finding out about Cas? It was not like Sam was going to hurt his friend. But what if he told their parents about Dean’s not so imaginary friend? A lie for protection was necessary.

‘When I go to the beach,’ Dean explained, ‘it’s because I want a smoke.’ Sam’s eyes had turned big as the "truth" was finally revealed. Dean secretly prayed Sam would keep his mouth shut about it, but it was only two days later, or Mary had stormed into his room demanding he hand over his cigarettes.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ He’d called out, but Mary would have none of it.

Now that it was the last day in Ireland Dean kinda regretted the lie. It was a good one, Sam bothered him less. But in return, he’d gotten house arrest since they weren’t able to find the non-existent cigarettes. Sneaking out of the house to meet with Cas didn’t really help his case.

He sat angrily in his room, he could hear his parents argue downstairs. He was lost in thought as his grandma Millie opened the door of his room. ‘Hey,’ she said, a small smile on her face as she saw him gaze out of the window.

‘I’m making some sandwiches for the flight back I wanted to know what you want?’ Dean simply turned away, still angry at his family. First, he got forced to go to this wet hellhole and now that he finally made a friend they kept Dean away from him. It was unfair.

The arguing downstairs had finally stopped, much to both of their relieve. ‘Dean I’m going to assume you want a grilled cheese sandwich.’ Millie moved towards the small desk in the corner of the room, she laid down a thin book. ‘I saw this at the store, you should go out and show this to your friend. Might be a while before you see them again.’

Millie gave him a knowing look before leaving with the door wide open. Dean stood up and hesitated before taking the book and making a dash for the front door.

‘Dean! Dean!’ A voice was shouting at him, Dean felt both happy and relieved to see Cas already waiting for him. The merboy was holding something and waved again when Dean made his way towards the rocks of their hiding place.

‘Heya Cas! I’m so sorry for last time. I got grounded and-’ Cas held his finger against his lips, immediately silencing Dean. He reached out for the human boy’s hands and put something small in it. Dean looked down surprised to find a silver ring. The ring was too big for his hand so much was obvious and when he allowed his fingers to glide over it he could feel a strange pattern.

Cas’ smile was big, radiant even. He closed Dean’s hands and firmly stated: ‘you.’ Dean was surprised, so surprised in fact that he was unsure of how to react. ‘You mean this is mine?’ Cas simply repeated the one word he knew well. So when Dean put the ring in his pocket the merboy seemed ecstatic.

He proceeded to drag Cas to their usual spot between the rock formation and once they settled down Dean opened his bag. He felt kinda lame when he took out the book his grandma had given him. Cas snatched it out of his hands immediately and opened it, his fingers seemed a bit too dry but Dean had forgotten to bring any water with him. As it turned out it was a book to teach young children new words.

Cas pointed in excitement at a picture of a duck and tried to pronounce the word. They sat there for maybe ten minutes as they went through the book together and Dean helped his friend pronounce the words correctly.

Ca stared at the word fish for a bit before hesitantly pointing at himself. Dean shook his head, ‘nah man you’re not just a fish. You’re something more. Although I doubt, they would add mystical creatures to a children’s vocabulary book.’

When Cas simply did the head tilt thing Dean decided to continue. A picture of two kids hugging was shown. Cas looked quietly before repeating the word, ‘hug?’ He gave Dean a knowing look and Dean smiled.

‘Yeah, a hug. Don’t tell me you guys don’t do that down below.’ If Dean was being honest, he didn’t really know if Cas was even part of a family. What if he was like the last merman alive or something? Cas however simply frowned and then pulled Dean in for a very tight hug. The merboy was stronger than he looked.

‘Hug,’ Cas stated solemnly, his finger now pointed at Dean as he continued: ‘Dean, friend.’ Dean felt a smile form on his face as he repeated Castiel’s word. ‘Cas, friend.’ It was starting to get late and Dean knew he shouldn’t stay out much longer. They would be heading to Cork airport soon.

So Dean packed his stuff and after carefully inspecting the area started to drag Cas back to the sea. ‘His skin was getting a grey-ish colour as it often did when he stayed out of the water too long. ‘Cas, one day I’m going to pick you up and you won’t have to be dragged anymore.’

Cas replied in his strange language and he sounded deadpan as he got rid of the sand that was stuck in his hair. Dean helped him out once they reached the water. Cas grumbled something under his breath before reaching for the book. Dean hesitantly handed it over, it was completed laminated so Dean guessed it would be fine for Cas to take with him.

The merboy opened the book again and started to browse through the pages. Finally, he stopped at one. Dean leaned over to see what it was. It looked like a picture of a man and a woman giving each other a peck on the lips. Cas frowned at the word and finally gave Dean a questioning look.

‘Uhm that’s, that’s kiss. K-I,’ he was rambling a bit. Feeling nervous under Castiel’s strong gaze. ‘Grown-up who are like in love do this stuff. And more.’ Dean immediately thought back on Jenny who’d held his hand and pecked his cheek. He was pretty sure his classmate wanted to kiss him.

Cas’ eyes suddenly brightened, but not in the weird ways his tattoos did sometimes. More like he had an idea. With little hesitation, he reached for Dean’s face and allowed his hand to touch the human’s lips. ‘Kiss!’ Cas stated firmly. He quickly retreated his hand, the touch had only been brief. Dean gave him a puzzled look. ‘You want me to kiss your hand?’

Cas was talking again, but when Dean couldn’t figure him out Cas leaned forward into his personal space. ‘Kiss.’ He repeated. Dean fell on his knees, splashing the cold water up everywhere now that his hunched positioning had finally become too uncomfortable. ‘Wait you mean like us? No!’

Cas frowned at the word no, hesitantly leaning back. ‘No kiss?’ He asked. Dean shook his head again, ‘that’s right friends don’t do that. And definitely not two guys. That’s weird.’ Cas’ fin flipped and splashed up a small puddle of water, effectively getting Dean’s shirt wet for the quadrillionth time.

Castiel’s devasted expression pulled at his heartstrings though. ‘Hey, don’t be sad Cas. We’re still friends. You, me, friends.’ Cas seemed slightly relieved, but that sadness in his eyes made something gnaw at Dean’s stomach. It was a dumb idea to kiss Cas.

But maybe he could do something different? He thought back to what Jenny had done to say goodbye and in a spark of genius he brought Cas’ face towards his own and kissed his cheek. Cas’ eyes got wide and he smiled, excitingly turning Dean’s face to return the favour.

‘Hey easy there, you’ll drown me!’ Dean teased as Cas pulled him closer and therefore further into the water.

Cas chuckled, ‘you’re the one that saved me by swimming. So I doubt that.’

Both boys froze up and Dean quickly leaned back. Cas seemed just as surprised. ‘Did you just talk?’ Dean asked, voice completely awed. Cas stared back, his eyes widening almost comically. ‘You can understand me?’ He asked in return. Dean nodded, unsure what had just happened. ‘Well fuck.’ The young human simply stated.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this second instalment. Our boys can finally communicate!


End file.
